Let me first say, I am a massive fan of Ang Lee's work, he is astounding. I am also a fan of the Hulk character, so my hopes fr this movie were pretty high.
I'm torn about my opinion of this movie, because I think it's great that the story has such intelligent, adult themes and introspective looks at the characters, rather than one-line meaningless dialog of most of the other comic book adaptations, I think the effects are superb, direction faultless (I love the little comic book style visual breaks up on the screen) and superb photography.
However, the story is ultimately too grand, and at the end rather confusing, you leave this movie just confused. The love connection between Jennifer Connely's character Eric Bana's Bruce/Hulk is just not believable. In my opinion Connely completely over acts everything in this movie, making her time on screen annoying.
The pacing of the story is also too slow, I mean it takes over 40 minutes to finally see the Hulk. The Hulk action sequences are superb, and once they start yo get the sense that the movie will pick up, but in the end the actions sequences are separated by too much exposition and character development, and a slowing down of pace.
As I said, the ending is confusing and a let down on previous action sequences, which is why i say this movie promises a lot but doesn't deliver. The direction is good, but the pace too slow, the action sequences are great, but too few and far between, Bana is excellent, but not given good dialog (it's a shame and a surprise he isn't returning for the sequel, he is really is good).
I think this movie is ultimately great example of how hard it is to get big budget comic book adaptations right. Do you go for the comic book crowd and alienate those that don't know the Hulk and his history? Do you dumb it down and annoy the true fans? Do you skew it towards the young fans and negate story, leaving older fans feeling left out, or do you go for a more mature movie, leaving the kids screaming for action? I guess these guys tried to do it all, but ultimately that's caused it to be disjointed and unfulfilling, although still better than most comic book adaptations.
I'm torn about my opinion of this movie, because I think it's great that the story has such intelligent, adult themes and introspective looks at the characters, rather than one-line meaningless dialog of most of the other comic book adaptations, I think the effects are superb, direction faultless (I love the little comic book style visual breaks up on the screen) and superb photography.
However, the story is ultimately too grand, and at the end rather confusing, you leave this movie just confused. The love connection between Jennifer Connely's character Eric Bana's Bruce/Hulk is just not believable. In my opinion Connely completely over acts everything in this movie, making her time on screen annoying.
The pacing of the story is also too slow, I mean it takes over 40 minutes to finally see the Hulk. The Hulk action sequences are superb, and once they start yo get the sense that the movie will pick up, but in the end the actions sequences are separated by too much exposition and character development, and a slowing down of pace.
As I said, the ending is confusing and a let down on previous action sequences, which is why i say this movie promises a lot but doesn't deliver. The direction is good, but the pace too slow, the action sequences are great, but too few and far between, Bana is excellent, but not given good dialog (it's a shame and a surprise he isn't returning for the sequel, he is really is good).
I think this movie is ultimately great example of how hard it is to get big budget comic book adaptations right. Do you go for the comic book crowd and alienate those that don't know the Hulk and his history? Do you dumb it down and annoy the true fans? Do you skew it towards the young fans and negate story, leaving older fans feeling left out, or do you go for a more mature movie, leaving the kids screaming for action? I guess these guys tried to do it all, but ultimately that's caused it to be disjointed and unfulfilling, although still better than most comic book adaptations.